534 Part IV • The Information Management System
Review Questions
1.This chapter emphasizes that an IS plan should be linked to
the strategic plan for the overall organization. Why is this
important?
2.How does an information vision differ from an IT
architecture?
3.Describe the five basic steps in information resource plan-
ning, and some ways that business managers might partici-
pate in each step?
4.Why is it important to assess business user attitudes, not just
their use of information?
5.Comment on the differences between the IS mission state-
ments by the IS and business managers in Figure 12.3.
What are some conclusions that could be drawn from these
differences?6.How would you respond to the criticism that a proposed IT
architecture is not feasible based on today’s technology?
7.How could the performance results in Figure 12.4 be used in
the remaining IS planning steps?
8.Figure 12.5 suggests that companies evolve their IT architec-
tures through different maturity stages. Why might an organ-
ization wish to stay in an earlier stage of the long term?
9.Contrast the critical success factors (CSFs) and SWOT (i.e.,
strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) approaches
for assessing opportunities as part of a strategic IS planning
process. Under what circumstances might one of these
approaches be more useful than the other?
10.Why might companies today develop IS operational plans
that cover only one year?Discussion Questions
1.In addition to the reasons listed in the chapter, what other
issues or events might cause an organization that does not
have a formal IS vision recognize the need for developing
one?
2.What are the major implications for the business manager
if an assessment of current practices indicates substantial
inconsistency in the information vision and IT architecture
for the company? What are the major implications for the
IS leaders?
3.What are the implications for changes in technology and
personnel as an organization moves from stage 1 to stage 2
and stage 2 to stage 3 in the IT architecture maturity model
in Figure 14.5?
4.What are some important IT management challenges that
would likely be encountered in working toward the Modular
architecture in Figure 14.5?5.Through which media (text, pictures, etc.) can an information
vision and architecture be represented? What are the advan-
tages of each approach?
6.Given the rapid rate of change in both information technolo-
gies and business environments, do you believe that exten-
sive information resource planning efforts are worthwhile for
most organizations? Why or why not? Under what circum-
stances might they not be?
7.Some have argued that a company’s existing IT architecture
should drive the business strategic plan, instead of being driven
by it. Can you think of an example where this might be the case?
8.Do you believe that strategic advantages obtained by the
effective use of IT are sustainable? Why or why not?
9.How might a business manager’s participation in an information
resource planning initiative help with the evaluation of a capital
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